The Waste and Resources Action Programme has already funded some research projects on the use of waste tyres, but the market development organisation is expected to use some of its 4 million funding from Defra's Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) programme to further work on tyres.
” Although the UK is likely to divert up to 90% of its tyres from landfill this year, there is room to diversify markets and seek ever increasingly beneficial forms of recovery.“
– Peter Taylor, Tyre Recovery Association
WRAP has said it cannot comment on its work on tyres or any other material before the General Election on May 5. But, a “discrete tyres programme” was to have begun in April under the BREW funding according to the government's advisors, the Used Tyres Working Group.
Substantial
The Group heard at its last meeting that “funding for the tyres programme, which should be up and running from April 2005, is likely to be quite substantial”.
The WRAP meeting, on June 15, comes as a boost for the tyre recycling sector, which has made unsuccessful attempts to attract funding from WRAP in the past. One of the first actions for WRAP is to confirm which areas of research have already been covered by existing projects, to avoid duplication of work.
Whole tyres have been banned from landfill since July 2003 under the Landfill Directive, which also requires shredded tyres to be diverted from landfill from July 2006. This second deadline could be delayed in the UK, however, under government proposals (see letsrecycle.com story).
For the 435,000 tonnes of used tyres that arose in 2004, it is thought that about 80% were diverted from landfill. And, the Tyre Recovery Association secretary, Peter Taylor, believes the diversion rate could reach 90% this year with current practices.
Development
Mr Taylor, whose association membership accounts for 80% of the reprocessed tonnage of used tyres in the UK, said he believed the major theme of WRAP's work was likely to be “sustainable long term development” of the tyre recycling and recovery sector.
Industry experts have told letsrecycle.com that there is currently no real shortage in terms of markets for used tyres. But, WRAP's work could aim to diversify the market itself so that it does not rely on any one form of reprocessing or any one company.
Mr Taylor said: “Although the UK is likely to divert up to 90% of its tyres from landfill this year, there is room to diversify markets and seek ever increasingly beneficial forms of recovery. If one of the major recyclers went bust it would leave a big whole in the market.”
Some have suggested that WRAP's work could seek to divert material from cement kilns, which currently take in as much as a third of all used tyres. This would mean WRAP diverting material away from energy recovery rather than away from landfill.
Retreading
Other uses of used tyres include landfill engineering, road and playground surfaces. Tyre re-treading could also benefit from WRAP work, and David Wilson, director of the Retread Manufacturers Association is to attend the WRAP meeting next month.
The purchase of retreaded tyres in the UK has fallen in recent years from about seven million tyres to just one million each year. Mr Wilson told letsrecycle.com that retreading should be of “primary importance” to WRAP.
Mr Wilson said: “We're not sure what WRAP will put its money towards, we are expecting to find this out at the meeting. We have some proposals for work we would like to carry out that we are lacking funding for. There needs to be more marketing of using retreaded tyres to the public, as this is clearly the green alternative.”
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